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‘The Phantom of the Paradise’ Might Find New Life as a Stage Play

by admin June 20, 2025

The Phantom of the Paradise, the vastly underrated horror-tinged rock opera from the minds of Brian De Palma (Carrie) and Paul Williams (The Muppet Movie), might be getting a new musical adaptation. Movie Maker reports that Williams and Sam Pressman, whose father Ed Pressman produced the 1974 cult film, are currently developing it as a stage production.

“I’m excited about having a chance to deliver what fans have been suggesting for years… POTP as a stage musical,” Williams said in a statement to MovieMaker. “I think its time has come!” American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis has been approached to pen it (please, no), but he’s not committed according to the report.

If you’ve never heard of The Phantom of the Paradise, get thee to a revival theater screening or rent it online—especially if you’re a Muppets fan. I know it seems weird to draw a line from “Rainbow Connection” and “no cheeses for us meeces” to a glam and gory ’70s riff on The Phantom of the Opera, but stay with me for a moment. Not only did the De Palma and Williams musical predate Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway take on the Gaston Leroux novel, but it inspired so many artists we know and love today. After its release Williams went on to become the Muppetational mind behind the music of The Muppet Movie and The Muppet Christmas Carol. Meanwhile, De Palma continued to genre hop from horror to mob movies and started the Mission: Impossible franchise.

The Phantom of the Paradise loosely adapts The Phantom of the Opera by way of Faust with a dash of The Picture of Dorian Gray but re-imagined into masterful musical mayhem. It follows a lowly composer named Winslow Leech who chases a deal with the devil in the form of music producer Swan, played by Williams in a tasty turn for the multi-hypenate. (He later also played the Penguin in Batman: The Animated Series.)

Thanks to his association with Death Records, Leech’s musical talents are ripped away and pressed just like his face into records that don’t give him credit for his songs. This includes the tunes that transform Leech’s crush Phoenix, the ingenue played by Jessica Harper (Suspiria), into a pop star. Vowing revenge he becomes the Phantom of the Paradise and violently haunts every artist Swan tries to give his music to, until they enter a deal that Leech’s music will only go to Phoenix. And from there things get real messy and bloody, but man, the needle drops are legendary.

So legendary that the film, much like its creative minds behind it, also inspired artists across mediums too. Guillermo del Toro is a vocal fan of the film and has been instrumental in making sure it stays in the horror zeitgeist. He even has one of the Phantom’s helmets in his Bleak House collection, which I totally didn’t imagine pulling a heist for at the LACMA when it was on display there.

The film has also become a touchstone for other musicians. One that really struck me personally was finding out that My Chemical Romance was heavily inspired by the film. I didn’t see it until I was an adult, which I deserve a shame circle for as a Phantom of the Opera Universal Monsters and original novel fan—but I knew MCR’s The Black Parade. The no-skips album is essentially a rock opera and it made total sense to find out Gerard Way was heavily influenced by Phantom in its creation. If anything, Way should write the book for Williams’ upcoming staging and star in it too.

Another act that’s come under Phantom‘s spell offers an even more fun realization: Daft Punk. Down to the helmets, aesthetic, and sound of the Phantom, that movie really gave us the greatest electronic duo to ever spin. Williams actually appeared on Random Access Memories track “Touch,” which sounds like it was yanked from a time machine as a Phantom of the Paradise B-side.

The Phantom of the Paradise was ahead of its time and the announcement of its stage musical gives me hope it will find its audience. If they modernize it, I wouldn’t hate it because I see the vision. The themes are timeless even in our digital age where content creators with talent who try to build a following get ripped off by artificial influencers with clout. That can be very Leech/Phantom versus Swan-coded for sure. Williams is a stone cold legend and his music mastery is a gift that’s still giving—he headlined Coachella this year with Yo Gabba Gabba!

While the report mentioned De Palma has been approached about the staging, he’s not an announced part of it. “We certainly want Brian to feel honored,” Pressman said in the article. “I went to go see Brian last fall, to talk about the dream. Phantom was an early and significant film for him and I’d say the favorite film of my father in his career. I think the chaos and originality of the whole experience was deeply inspiring.”

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June 20, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

How real life swordsmen and a search for realism has changed the face of Onimusha in Way of the Sword

by admin June 20, 2025

It’s arguably the perfect time for the return of Onimusha. If we’re discounting remasters and strange Japan-exclusive spin-offs, it’s been almost twenty years since the last entry in the series – and it does feel a lot like that time has seen the ground prepared for the return of Capcom’s demon-slaying samurai series.

For one, there has been a huge surge in the popularity of media set in and around feudal Japanese history. We’ve got the likes of Ghost of Tsushima and Nioh, and elsewhere Sh&omacr;gun is the most gripping and moving TV drama in recent memory. In mechanical terms, Onimusha’s absence has encompassed the entirety of the crunchy melee action game revolution that’s been primarily led by FromSoftware.

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Basically, it feels like it’s the best possible time to revive Onimusha as a heavy action game with sword-to-sword and sword-to-demonic-beast combat. But predictably, the team at Capcom behind the game is coy about how much of that they’ve really paid attention to.

“The hardware capabilities,” replies Onimusha: Way of the Sword director Satoru Nihei when asked about what of the last twenty years has been most influential over the new vision of Onimusha. Which, fair enough: in the world of hardware, a hell of a lot has changed.

“There are things we couldn’t have possibly implemented, such as quite detailed sword clashing and physical animations. Things like that conceptually can let us drive the action in directions that are new.”

No mention, then, of other recent games in similar settings, or of the soulsy shadow that no doubt loomed large and was probably mentioned in a hundred development meetings. But some developers, especially from Japan, are reluctant to have the names of other company’s games in their mouths – even those behind a series that has always been about absorbing enemy souls that now is recontextualised by that which has come since. I get that – and we don’t really need their admission to see that influence.

The new face of Onimusha. | Image credit: Capcom

In a hands-off demo of live gameplay, you can see the distinct contours of the modern age grafted to systems lifted from the Onimusha series right back to the 2001 original. There’s also a greater heft to combat, and gamers’ embracing of parry systems now means that there’s the ability to focus down more on that with impeccably stylish and beautifully animated results.

In other ways, Way of the Sword’s developers lightly rebuke some trends. “We knew from the start that we don’t want to make a mega tough game where you’re just dying constantly,” says producer Akihito Kadowaki. “That wasn’t our goal. We want to build a level of challenge that’s satisfying to overcome, but also can appeal to a broader range of players than the absolute highest end of difficulty level.”

Perhaps this is not Onimusha reimagined for 2025, but rather Onimusha filtered through 2025. That’s a canny way to strike a soft reboot, for sure. At the same time, some things have changed. This is a more realistic game, with a photo-realistic art style powered by Capcom’s RE Engine – and realism, even in a game choc full of snarling demons, was clearly a development watchword.

“It’s important to strike a balance, but we want it to be believable,” says Kadowaki. “Whether it’s the more plausible swordplay action or the more dark, fantastical, demonic elements.”

A key element of this harks back to something I saw extensively back when I visited Capcom’s Osaka offices for Monster Hunter Wilds back in November of last year, which is a huge investment in motion capture technology. Capcom has several enormous mocap studios now, and the technology is impressively meshed with RE Engine to the point where you can review mocap actions fully in-engine, in-environment, textured and all, in real time. With this technology at hand, the answer for Onimusha’s realism was obvious: real swordsmen.

A battle on multiple fronts. | Image credit: Capcom

“These professional swordsmen would be trying moves on our motion capture setup and letting us bring a sense of believability to the sword elements,” explains Nihei. “That helps you really accept the more fantastical parts as they come into the game, because it’s otherwise grounded in such a plausible basis. We’re able to merge those two things into a dark fantasy setting in a way that doesn’t feel out of place. It’s a careful balance.”

The swordmen came in, and Onimusha’s developers would let them take the lead. Rather than direct them closely, the game developers would broadly explain what they wanted and then let the experts guide them on how that might be best achieved. Then comes a back-and-forth between the two groups as gameplay considerations are meshed with what the real-life fighters think best.

“It’s very much a collaborative process,” says Nihei. “It’s important for us to respect the mastery that the sword experts had.”

That mastery ended up with unintended consequences, however. Perhaps when we look at how Onimusha: Way of the Sword has been changed by the march of time, technology is indeed the most important – because of how Capcom’s evolving motion capture capabilities had a knock-on effect on the rest of the game – and its protagonist, Musashi Miyamoto.

“One of the interesting things that came to us was – you know, we all have this image of Samurai as having a strict code of conduct and rules that they follow,” Nihei muses. “Certain things aren’t allowed, there’s a certain way you’ll hold and use your sword and so on.

“It might be seen as fighting dirty or whatever, but the experts we spoke to said: look, ultimately, when you’re about to die in a sword fight you’ll break the rules. You’ll do what you have to do to stay alive.

“It was an interesting realisation for us that, maybe, as outsiders, we were taking it too much as a given that – oh no, even when he’s about to die, he wouldn’t possibly be able to do this kind of thing. It’s like – no! Let him do it! Let him try to live!”

Will Capcom’s latest knock you off your feet? | Image credit: Capcom

With that revelation came careful thought about Musashi Miyamoto himself, a character who has after careful licensing negotiations been bequeathed the likeness of the legendary late Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune, star of many classic samurai movies including the seminal Seven Samurai. Mifune’s face is one way Onimusha reaches for legitimacy – the advice of swordplay experts, right down to characterisation, is another.

“It’s something that made us think about Musashi Miyamoto as a character,” Nihei continues. “Because there are scenes where he will use weapons that aren’t a traditional samurai sword, or as you mentioned earlier he might use environmental gimmicks. Like, is that to the rules of the samurai, to push someone into a flaming torch or whatever?

“Plus, there will be dialogue scenes where it’s like, ‘Oh, you call yourself a samurai doing this kind of thing?!’ It made us reflect on his characterisations. Someone who isn’t just that one side of the super strict samurai bushi code – but actually a human who has to make moment-to-moment decisions on how he’s going to approach every situation to stay alive.”

This Onimusha is familiar but different, then. In that hands-off demo, one can see shades of the 2001 original and its successors, but also of much that has come since – and lessons learned and technology iterated right across Capcom’s soaring portfolio of the last decade or so.

It certainly seems set to be a triumphant return – though as with any well-honed blade, the test will come in battle – which will be when we all can have the game in our hands at some point in 2026.

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June 20, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is, unexpectedly, getting an open-world roguelike mode

by admin June 20, 2025

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time – the sequel to developer Level 5’s 2012 Nintendo DS life sim and RPG thing – is getting a bunch of free DLC, which we already knew. What we weren’t previously aware of, however, is that its DLC will include an open-world roguelike mode.

It’s not entirely clear why a relatively laidback, job-focused life sim RPG would want to get in on the roguelike action, but that’s what Level 5 is going for. As detailed in its announcement blog, the update – which is currently “actively underway” – will feature an “evolved version of Ginormosia, including a system blending roguelike and open-world elements”.

Level 5’s announcement stops short of explaining how the new mode will actually work, but it does say the update will include “engaging content for both experienced players and newcomers alike.” Additionally, the update promises “powerful new gear”, plus “stylish equipment, mounts, and a variety of unusual items.” A telephone made of butts immediately springs to mind, but I suspect I’m likely to be disappointed.

Fantasy Life i – features trailer.Watch on YouTube

And we’re not quite done yet. Fantasy Life i’s free DLC update will also include a brand-new character who’ll “leave a significant mark on the world”, plus new hairstyles and new emotes to “make it even more enjoyable for players to express themselves in-game”. As for when all this will show up, Level 5 says “as soon as possible”.

“Level 5 appreciates everyone’s continued support and remains committed to continuously refining Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time,” it concludes in its announcement post, “as well as expanding content to provide the best possible gaming experience.”

Why all this free DLC? That’ll be down to Fantasy Life i’s impressive sales, with the game having already shifted 1m copies since its release at the end of May. Level 5 is also celebrating the milestone with a “commemorative gift code” that’ll unlock an “exclusive piece of equipment”, plus a “commemorative Pegasus mount” – although its post profusely apologises for mistakenly giving players on certain platforms a unicorn instead. That error should now be fixed, alas.

And if you’d like to bump that sales number up to 1m and one, Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is available now on Steam, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Switch, and Switch 2.

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June 20, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

As if 14 jobs wasn’t enough work, Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is getting an open world roguelike mode

by admin June 19, 2025

You would think that being able to take on 14 different jobs would be enough to keep most people busy in Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, but to Level-5 it seems like that won’t be enough. Last month, the developer announced that because the RPG has done so well, they’ll be releasing a free update/ bit of DLC called Update the World, and they’ve now offered a couple of details as to what that’ll be.

Apparently, it’ll be a “roguelike open world” mode, which mostly just sounds like a bit of an awkward translation, but the post detailing the mode did explain it a touch at least: “The update will feature an evolved version of Ginormosia, including a system blending roguelike and open-world elements that offers engaging content for both experienced players and newcomers alike.” So, kind of what it says on the tin honestly. No details were shared as to how the mode will work, but there will be some new gear, equipment, mounts, hairstyles, emotes, and “unusual items”.

A bit of character art featuring an evil, wizardy looking big dog creature with a mysterious set of cases attached to their back was also shown off. This new character will arrive with the update, and “plays a pivotal role in the story and is set to leave a significant mark on the world.” Kind of love Level-5 just dropping a PNG of some guy almost completely contextlessly.

The team is apparently “actively working” on all this new stuff, but there’s no release date in sight for it just yet. Considering how big that game is though, I’m sure you’ve got more than enough to be getting on with in the meantime.

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June 19, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

A New ‘Star Trek’ Comic Will Bring Captain Kirk Back to Life

by admin June 18, 2025

Somehow, Captain Kirk returned. Wrong sci-fi franchise for that meme, but it’s true. IDW Publishing has just announced Star Trek: The Last Starship as a new addition to its line of Trek comics, and it’ll focus on a certain Starfleet hero who’s been dead since the big-screen events of 1994’s Star Trek: Generations.

How is this possible? Well, beyond the long-held notion that anything is possible in sci-fi, a notion that also applies to comic books, the Hollywood Reporter—which was the first to announce the news—says only that he’ll be “mysteriously resurrected.” So that must be a part of the story, written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing (whose previous collaborations include IDW’s Eisner-nominated Star Trek series, which launched in 2022) with art by Adrián Bonilla.

Speaking to THR, Lanzing promised Star Trek: The Last Starship will feature “a new crew, a new era, and a completely different tone” compared to other Star Trek works, and noted that even Trek newbies will be able to dive right into its world.

According to the trade, “the series takes place during the Burn, a galaxy-wide disaster which caused the destruction of every active warp core, killing trillions and shattering the peace and stability the United Federation of Planets provided for seven centuries. Facing a true wild west in space, a mysteriously resurrected Kirk will need to lead a new crew and ship in a seemingly impossible effort to uphold Starfleet’s mission of unity across the cosmos.”

Fans of Star Trek: Discovery will recall the show’s far-far-future third season investigated what caused the Burn, but this will be the first story taking place during the immediate aftermath the disaster itself. The distinctive visage of William Shatner will obviously provide the model for The Last Starship‘s Kirk, and THR reports the comic—debuting September 24—will become IDW’s new flagship Trek title, along with new limited series based around Strange New Worlds and Voyager.

Are you excited for Captain Kirk’s return? Do you prefer your Trek in live-action, animation, or comics, or do you consume a combination of all three? Head to THR to check out first looks at the cover variants.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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June 18, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time Remake Shows Signs Of Life With Small Update

by admin June 17, 2025

Ubisoft has provided an update on its long-in-development remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. No, it’s not a release date, but it is confirmation that the game is, in fact, still happening.

A new post from the official Prince of Persia X account frankly states,

“Yep, we’re still deep in the game — exploring, building, and ensuring the sands move with purpose. This game is being crafted by a team that truly cares, and they’re pouring their hearts (and a lot of coffee) into every step. Thank you for sticking with us.”

Additionally, the post shares a new piece of artwork (posted in the header above).

It’s a rare update for the troubled title, which was first announced in September 2020. The remake of the 2003 classic was originally in development at Ubisoft’s Indian studios in Mumbai and Pune with a planned launch in early 2021. The game was initially billed as a ground-up remake with improved textures and lighting, modernized combat, new cinematics, and re-recorded dialogue from the original voice actors (including Prince actor Yuri Lowenthal).

A few months after its reveal, the game was delayed a few months, then postponed indefinitely. In 2022, development was transferred to Ubisoft Montreal, the studio behind the original Sands of Time, which effectively reset its development. During Ubisoft Forward in 2024, the publisher announced a 2026 launch window for the remake, and it’s unclear what the new scope of its improvements will be.

When it was announced, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake was slated to launch on last-gen consoles and PC. It’s unclear if the game will still launch on those platforms, as one would imagine development would shift to current hardware. Until we learn more, you can watch us revisit the original game in this episode of Replay. Be sure to also check out our review of the last Prince of Persia title, 2024’s The Lost Crown, here. You can also read our preview for another upcoming spin-off, The Rogue Prince of Persia, which is slated to launch out of Early Access in August.

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June 17, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

As much as it pains me to say it, the Switch 2’s short battery life is a real bummer

by admin June 16, 2025

Sometimes you just know something to be true. Do I want to eat a pizza right now? Yes. Is Hot Rod the greatest Transformer? Yes. Am I going to be miserable when the temperature climbs above 22 degrees celsius? Yes. Is my sleep going to suffer because of a big event happening tomorrow? Yes. Is the Switch 2’s battery life too short? Yes.

I’ve been using the Switch 2 for about a week and a half, playing it for multiple hours every day. Aside from the fact that I’ve had a lot of fun with Mario Kart World and Fast Fusion, my main take away from that time is that I wish the battery lasted longer. I’ve not timed it, but just as with the Steam Deck the constant fear of not having enough charge has resulted in me becoming obsessed with making sure my Switch 2 is always charged and ready.

I’ve become quite blase about the charge levels of the numerous devices I use everyday. My watch, because it’s a bit naff, only needs a quick charge once per week; my phone comfortably gets through the day and could probably go two days if I forgot to charge it overnight; and my Switch seems able to last most of a week being played here and there when I have a few moments spare.

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Again, this is all anecdotal. I’m not sitting at home, pen and paper in hand, stopwatch primed, tracking usage times and building a spreadsheet (although maybe that would be fun). I just know that I currently spend a not insignificant amount of my days thinking about charging the Switch 2. I prefer to keep the Switch 2 in a carry case (as I did with the Switch) instead of in the dock, mainly because I feel like it’s more of a handheld for me than it is a TV console, and this has resulted in even more logistical issues as I move it around from dock to case whenever I feel I might want to take it somewhere with me.

All this, in turn, got me thinking about what an acceptable battery life for a handheld games console is. You could argue that the two-ish hours I’m getting from Switch 2 is acceptable as I’m using it and won’t stop using it, but it is hurting my overall enjoyment in small amounts – like how I become momentarily miffed if I notice something I’ve just bought could have been bought for 50p less. I’m over it quickly, but over the course of a year I’d be down £180, which would sting a lot more.

I remember my DS Lite almost never needing to be charged, the glorious machine it is. Of course I did charge it, but my lasting impression of it is that it seemed to go on forever, play session after play session. There’s a number, I’m sure, probably around three to four hours, where you’d feel like you’ve used the device enough for it to need charging again. I understand why the Switch 2 is some way from hitting that number (this level of processing power and screen size guzzle juice), and appreciate that the game you’re playing does have an impact, but for me the current Switch 2 isn’t to be played anywhere, but instead is able to easily be taken anywhere – ideally somewhere with a power socket.

I’m sure a future iteration will make solid battery improvements, just as the original Switch was improved with a new model released a little over two years after the original’s debut, but that’s for future me to possibly be happy about. In the here and now, amongst mostly positive thoughts on the console, I hope you can understand why I am being overly dramatic about what you might think of as a trivial issue.

Yes, I could plug it in. Yes, I do mostly play Switch 2 while sitting on my sofa. That’s not the point. I’ll have to live with it, but the battery does not last long enough!

What do you think? Are you okay with the Switch 2’s battery life or is it causing you unexpected pain and misery, too?

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June 16, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

With 50 Hours of Battery Life, These Beats Headphones Are at a New Record Low on Amazon

by admin June 15, 2025

Right now, all of those looking to purchase a pair of decent and style-conscious wireless headphones should have the Beats Solo 4 on their radar, especially given that they’re also priced at their all-time low on Amazon. Beats, as part of Apple, is renowned for producing stable sound products that work perfectly with both Apple and Android devices. With the price reduced to only $99, from $200 (50% off), the offer is equivalent to the type of discounts normally experienced on Black Friday.

See at Amazon

Great Reviews

The Beats Solo 4 has received a fantastic 4.6 out of 5 stars based on more than 12,000 reviews and proves widespread satisfaction among customers. This type of endorsement speaks volumes about the quality and reliability of the product and not to mention the extremely high standards of both Beats and Apple. Although these headphones do not possess active noise cancellation per se, they instead offer personalized spatial audio with dynamic head tracking which is actually a superior feature and a whole new level to your listening.

The unique acoustic design and new drivers generate well-balanced sound characteristic of the Beats brand. The ultralight, ergonomic design is comfortable all day, thanks to a flex-grip headband and ergonomically angled and adjustable ear cups that create a solid fit. The UltraPlush cushions are contoured for comfort and endurance so they can be worn for hours on end without irritation.

Perhaps one of the strongest advantages of the Beats Solo 4 is its amazing battery life: With up to 50 hours of playback per single charge, you can listen to these headphones for days without needing to plug them in. Even when you do exhaust the battery, Fast Fuel technology offers just 10 minutes of charging gives you up to 5 hours of playback time. Audiophiles will like the choice of listening in high-resolution lossless audio—delivered over USB-C or a 3.5 mm audio cable—so you’re always listening at the best possible level.

These headphones are completely compatible with both iOS and Android and offer one-touch pairing for easy and hassle-free setup. High-quality call clarity is provided by the onboard microphone and also allows easy communication with voice assistants and keeps you connected and productive on the move.

The current price point of $99 is a rare commodity, and it matches the lowest price points during massive shopping sales like Black Friday. Make sure you get it before it runs out of stok.

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June 15, 2025 0 comments

illustration of rally car making jump with blue sky and golden gate bridge in background.

Product Reviews

Real-life rally racing is dying and triple-A rally games are dead, but the sport’s gotten a second life thanks to these excellent indie racers

by admin June 14, 2025

The sport of rally racing is simple and accessible: you take a cheap city car, give it some all-terrain tires, and throw it down a hair-raising man-versus-nature gauntlet of winding dirt roads with a copilot shouting directions in your ear.

There are no laps, no other drivers, and no pit stops. Unfortunately for fans, there’s also no more interest in the sport—or at least, not much. Manufacturer participation and viewership have both been in freefall for decades.

Parking Garage Rally Circuit Official Gameplay Trailer – YouTube

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So it’s kind of baffling that we’re living in a golden age of rally video games—at least if you look at the indie scene. Smash hits abound, from 2020’s highly stylized Art of Rally to 2022’s gritty PlayStation 2-vibed Rush Rally 3 and 2024’s white-knuckle ode to public infrastructure Parking Garage Rally Circuit.

Not only do these games bring the thrill of off-track racing back to life; every single one also comes charged with its own flavor nostalgia for a bygone era, a pre-Y2K time that many of the genre’s core fans, and even some of its developers⁠, are too young to have experienced firsthand.

Meanwhile, in the triple-A space, EA recently announced that its subsidiary developer, Codemasters, is pulling out of rally racing after an iconic quarter-century run of games based on the sport.

The motorsport is in an all-time slump, and an enthusiast car market once saturated with homologation specials⁠—that is to say, race-ready cars you can buy directly from the manufacturer⁠—now has basically zero road-legal rally cars for sale.

If rally is a dying art, then why are there so many indie racers to choose from? Formula 1 racing has utterly exploded in popularity over the last half-decade. But despite that motorsport’s fanbase nearing 1 billion people, sales of indie track-style racing games patterned after F1 and the like don’t show a similar success (though I do have to shout out New Star GP).

Pick up and play

(Image credit: Brownmonster Limited)

Part of the magic with all these indie rally games is, like with the broader indie renaissance, you can run any of them on a cheap PC from the early 2010s or similarly low-spec device. I logged all of my Art of Rally hours on a three-year-old phone, and #Drive Rally (my most recent obsession) runs buttery smooth most of the time on my MacBook Air.

And even if you’ve never driven a car in your life, there’s something addictive about sliding your car through a snowy Finnish wood in Rush Rally 3, around a rainy Japanese mountain switchback in Art of Rally, or down a sandy American desert valley in #Drive Rally.

Like a tight platforming roguelite or an Elden Ring speedrun, the appeal of rally is incredibly simple: one tiny mistake and your brilliantly executed run is over. There is very little grip, and the roads are little more than a car-length wide. Every jump is heart-stopping, every turn is a coin-flip where you either face heartbreak or experience the thrill of an e-brake drift you didn’t know you had in you.

Each game brings a different pleasure. Art of Rally is a well-curated, sepia-toned love letter to the classic era of the sport (the 1960s-’80s); Rush Rally brings a Gran Turismo level of car tuning, customization, and sim-like handling; and Parking Garage Rally Circuit takes tight, colorful ’90s arcade racing (and music, and vibes) to a whole new level.

Each game, while fundamentally designed around similar mechanics, is its own unique portal to a different world—maybe one you grew up in, or maybe one you missed out on.

Car culture

(Image credit: Funselektor Labs)

Rally the sport carries a similar ethos and anarchic spirit to PC gaming. If a new Ferrari is a flashy 5-figure prebuilt with a custom RTX 5090, a rallied-out 200k-mile Subaru Impreza RS2.5 with a back seat delete is a DIY people’s champion running a secondhand GTX 1060 and a 7th-gen core i3 found in your local e-waste bin.

Art of Rally’s car details highlight this—they start off with descriptions like “originally designed to fit more grocery bags than the competition” and “the French take on the 4-door family car.” That’s what makes rally cars special: They were nearly all based on cheap econoboxes—that is, entry-level, no-frills hatchbacks and sedans—like the iconic Ford Escort Cosworth.

In a word, rally is accessible. I don’t mean that becoming a rally racer is super-easy and approachable—although there was a rallied-out Impreza that used to frequent my local cars and coffee meetup⁠—but rather, the culture of rally is accessible.

Rally appeals to me because it is a very pure expression of ‘you and your machine vs the terrain’ without the other cars to contend with.

Tim “Walaber” FitzRandolph

Average people like you and I cannot buy an F1 car and drive it to work. But we live in a world where we could buy a rally car for $25,000 online or at a local dealership. That fantasy can become a reality.

Art of Rally creator Dune Casu, who has actually attended rally races in-person, shows that this cultural approachability dovetails with indie rally games’ simple mechanics: “Art of Rally has found a sweet spot where it seems to be a way for people who play the sim rally games to relax and play more casually.”

I think it also gives people who’ve never played a rally game a chance to experience the joy of the genre without a deep dive into the technical skills and equipment that sim racing requires.

Casu shared a perspective that resonates with me, that the “zeitgeist” of rally “stems from the rally footage from the early days,” with “iconic cars”—seriously, I encourage you to search Group B Rally Cars on your nearest search engine—and “drivers that were more akin to fighter pilots.”

Another level

(Image credit: Walaber Entertainment LLC)

What’s more, developing a rally game is also much more accessible for your average enthusiast. I asked Tim “Walaber” FitzRandolph, Parking Garage Rally Circuit’s creator, for his thoughts on the recent explosion of indie rally racers. He originally came up with the idea for PGRC in a Ludum Dare game jam.

“Retro rally is a nice indie-friendly game type because of the simple focus on car handling and terrain without needing the large scope to compete with AAA games,” explained FitzRandolph.

Dune Casu shared a similar perspective, one that’s become a bit of a refrain in an era of triple-A mediocrity and thrilling independent development: “Indie rally games aren’t bound by the same rules and are usually made with lower budgets and smaller teams, which means we can take more risks.”

“I’m not an avid racing fan,” PGRC creator FitzRandolph revealed when I asked what separates rally from other motorsports. “Rally appeals to me because it is a very pure expression of ‘you and your machine vs the terrain’ without the other cars to contend with.

“In a way, I think it’s similar to Horror and Roguelikes in that it’s a genre that provides lots of replayability without needing tons of production cost to develop, has an audience, and is not competing against AAA, which is the sweet spot for indies!”

But I think there’s something even deeper than this accessibility to the digital rally revival. The rise of everyman rally racing games captures this memory, partly real or fully imagined, that we have of better days—of raw, unrefined, unpretentious fun. Retro cars, like early gaming consoles, film cameras, vinyl records, and my personal favorite audio medium, cassette tapes, all carry the soul of a semi-mythical simpler time.

Art of Rally deftly captures this sunset glow of nostalgia, radiant on its off-brand Lancia Stratos and Audi Sport Quattro. The rush of Rush Rally 3’s motion-blur, throwback graphics, and sim-like handling give 9/10ths of the same hit as Gran Turismo 3’s dirt stages. Parking Garage Rally Circuit’s Ska bangers, blocky polygons, and bright colors would make any grown-up car enthusiast feel like they’re back in the ’90s. Real-world rally may be fading, but long live the indie rally racer.

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June 14, 2025 0 comments

Earfun Wave Life over-ear noise-cancelling headphones on a wooden surface

Product Reviews

Earfun Wave Life review: mostly excellent, comfortable over-ears deliver at an enticing price

by admin June 14, 2025

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Earfun Wave Life: two-minute review

To misquote Futurama’s robotic delinquent Bender, you’re in for “Earfun on a bun” if you take the plunge on the Chinese brand’s latest budget cans. Assuming I still have a job to take this review any further [only just – Ed.], I’ve been taken aback by the quality of the Earfun Wave Life. Seeing as they only cost around $50 / £50, these over-ear headphones are far better than I was expecting.

The Earfun Wave Life pack in enough features and sufficiently robust audio performance to make them absolutely worth considering if you’re on the hunt for a new pair of cheap over-ear cans. Sturdily built, extremely easy on the ears thanks to their lush foam cups and sporting an app that’s both intuitive and comprehensive with its EQ options, there’s a lot to like about these competitively priced noise cancelling headphones.

It’s a pity the Wave Life’s ANC features don’t fully convince. For the price Earfun are selling them, I was never expecting these over-ears to rival the best noise-cancelling headphones out there. Still, when it comes to snuffing out distracting ambient noise, ANC performance with these cheap cans is almost aggressively average.

Earfun Wave Life review: Price and release date

Release date: February, 2025
Price: $59.99 / £49.99 / AU$105 (approx.)

The Earfun Wave Life are priced super-aggressively at just $59.99 / £49.99 / AU$105 (approx.). They can often be found even cheaper than their official retail price courtesy of Amazon sales, too.

Though they’re obviously not as premium as the $79.99 / £79.99 / AU$167 (where sold) Earfun Wave Pro that impressed us big style early last year, they still deliver a satisfying sonic experience.

Sure, they’re not going to make audiophiles’ socks roll up and down. Yet considering their budget price point, I reckon most folks will be pleasantly surprised by these over-ear headphones’ pleasingly deep bass and relatively convincing trebles. The Earfun Wave Life are also far more comfy than I was expecting from such an affordable pair of cans.

In terms of alternative options, if you’re looking for some of the best cheap headphones for under $/£100, you’ll struggle to do better than the superb 1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51 (catchy moniker, right?). The Sony WH-CH520 are another great option if you’re in the market for a budget pair of noise-cancelling cans.

Earfun Wave Life review: Specs

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Weight:

264g

Drivers:

40mm Composite

Battery life:

37 hours (ANC on); up to 60 hours (ANC off)

Control:

app; physical/touch; voice

Connectivity:

Bluetooth 5.4; USB-C

(Image credit: Future / Dave Meikleham)

Earfun Wave Life review: Features

Up to 60 hours’ battery life
Intuitive app improves sound quality
Two devices can be paired simultaneously

Aside from their stellar battery life – more on which shortly – the Earfun Wave Life feature that impresses me most is their excellent software. The Earfun Audio app is available on both Android and iOS, and I’d consider it an essential download if you want to squeeze the best sound out of these cheap over-ear cans.

Easy to use, sporting an uncluttered design and with intuitive custom EQ calibration tools, the Earfun app can significantly improve the Wave Life’s already decent out-of-the-box audio.

I’m a big fan of the software’s custom equalizer that allows you to adjust the headphones’ soundscape across a variety of frequencies via a set of sliders. It’s a doddle to use, as you simply tweak each frequency until the app’s repeating ‘drip’ sound fades away.

After a couple of minutes of adjustments, I found the customized results to be significantly more satisfying than any of the 30 preset EQ profiles Earfun’s software offers. These span various musical genres, while various bass and treble boost presets are also provided.

The wide variety of profiles the firm serves up may be impressive, but I found the majority to be a little too quiet. And not to be overly nitpicking, but flicking between these presets on both my iPhone 14 Pro and iPad Pro (2024) is painfully sloooooow.

Earfun’s app also lets you switch between the Wave Life’s four ANC modes. First up, there’s ‘normal’, which somewhat confusingly turns noise cancelling off. There’s then ‘ambient sound’, ‘wind noise cancellation’ and ‘noise cancelling’; with the latter two options snuffing out sounds most effectively.

(Image credit: Future / Dave Meikleham)

Sadly, Earfun hasn’t really cracked the ANC code with its cheap cans and I could still easily make out passing traffic when going out for strolls. Next to my Apple AirPods Max, noise cancelling on the Wave Life isn’t up to scratch. That said, comparing $60 headphones to Crew Cupertino’s $500 over-ear cans is like pitting a Morris Minor against a Lamborghini Aventador in a drag race.

Another selling point of the Earfun Wave Life that thankfully proves more effective is their multi-phone connectivity that lets you pair two devices simultaneously. During my testing it proved largely reliable, with the headphones syncing to my tablet and smartphone with little hassle. The only slight hitch I’ve encountered is when I enter the app on my duo of Apple devices, which often requires me to unpair one gizmo before I can tweak software settings on the other.

The Earfun Wave Life are battery beasts. On a full charge, they’ll last for 60 hours, with that number dropping to a still-impressive 37 hours with ANC enabled. During my fortnight of testing these cans, I only had to charge them twice, which is super-commendable considering how kind these headphones are on your change purse.

However, there’s no getting around the fact the bundled-in USB-C charging cable is comically short. I’m talking Smurf short. Still, I’m not going to grumble too much when I can get the Wafe Life to 100% juice in less than 30 minutes on my GaN charger.

As mentioned in the two-minute review, the four-mic, AI-assisted algorithm also makes hands-free calling a breeze. With a 49ft range, you don’t have to worry about being cut off when wandering around your apartment/house, either.

(Image credit: Future / Dave Meikleham)

Earfun Wave Life review: Design

Incredibly comfy to wear
Easy-to-reach on-cup controls
Materials feel premium for budget cans

No-frills is the name of the ultra-plain game when it comes to the Earfun Wave Life. With an inoffensive yet entirely forgettable design, these cans won’t keep you from hitting the hay and dreaming about how alluring they look.

Crucially, though, they don’t feel cheap. The quality of the plastics used in the construction of these over-ears feels far more premium than I’d expect from $60 headphones. I also appreciate the brushed metal that appears when you extend the Wave Life’s headband.

In terms of comfort, Earfun has absolutely nailed it with its latest budget cans. I wore them on a three-hour walk with my husky on an uncommonly warm Scottish afternoon recently and never once did they cause me any discomfort. That’s mainly due to their super-comfy foam cups which rotate 90 degrees, making them both easy to fold up and an absolute pleasure to wear.

The Earfun Wave Life weigh a relatively breezy 264g, which also means you don’t have to worry about neck strain or earache. Every time I put these cans on, it feels like giving my lobes a big fuzzy hug. I’ll take comfort over style all the livelong day.

The on-cup controls are also enjoyable to interact with. A soft plastic power button is wedged between equally squishy and easy-to-locate volume up/down controls, while I also had no problems switching between noise-cancelling controls thanks to the dedicated ANC button. My only slight beef? You have to hold down the power button a little too long for my liking.

There’s also a USB-C slot for both wired play and charging. As I stated previously, the cable that comes in the box is way too short, so you’d be better off investing in a longer third-party one if you want to go down the wired listening route.

As for colors, you’re limited to a single shade of black. If you like your headphones to be unfussy and not make you stand out on, say, a crowded train or bus, the Wave Life’s bog-standard noir won’t bother you. Personally, I like both white and colored cans, so I would have appreciated more than one hue.

(Image credit: Future / Dave Meikleham)

Earfun Wave Life review: Sound quality

A touch quiet without app tweaks
Software EQ adjustments save the day
Well-judged bass levels

Considering how affordable the Wave Life are, I don’t want to overly dunk on their sound shortcomings, and there are few glaring weaknesses with these cheap cans’ audio quality. There are, though, some that warrant mentioning.

My biggest bugbear is the default sound profile when you first unbox these over-ears. This is subjective, but the Wave Life were a tad too quiet when I first clamped them around my skull. Although initially underwhelmed by their audio, I calibrated a custom EQ via the Earfun Audio app to produce a listening experience that felt far more well-balanced and punchy.

Without software tweaks, vocals during my favorite tunes and dialogue on some of the best Netflix movies on my iPad felt muted and flat, so I definitely recommend downloading Earfun’s app. Considering the firm’s software is both robust yet never feels daunting to interact with, it would be uncharitable to slam the Wave Life’s default soundscape when it’s so simple and quick to make it appreciably better through minor app adjustments.

Within minutes of fiddling about with its frequency sliders, I landed on a custom profile that delivered a soundscape with decently weighty bass that dovetailed well with the treble levels I settled on. Yes, mids on the Wave Life get lost in the sonic shuffle somewhat, but overall, I’ve had far more enjoyable audio sessions with these cans than disappointing ones.

When testing headphones for the first time, I’ve got a small clutch of go-to bangers I always fire up. The almost hymn-like electronic stylings of Death in Vegas’ Girls sounds way more impactful than I was expecting from sub-$100 cans, while the pulsating trance beats of F*ck Buttons nine-minute The Lisbon Maru delivered all the bass my eardrums craved – thank you, Wave Life.

(Image credit: Future / Dave Meikleham)

I was less taken with my favorite live performance ever when listening to The Verve’s astonishing rendition of Sonnet from their spellbinding 1998 home concert from Wigan’s Haigh Hall, though. This classic Cool Britannia tune sounds amazing on my Sony Inzone H9 – surprising, considering it’s a gaming headset first and foremost. But on the Wave Life, Richard Ashcroft’s normally haunting vocals lack the audio oomph my Inzone cans drum up.

Speaking of which, Earfun’s budget over-ears come with a low-latency Game Mode that automatically kicks in if you fire up a title on either your Android or iOS device. Not that I actually noticed much difference when I disabled the feature when playing some of the best iPad games.

That’s not to say the Wave Life don’t do a more than passable job at being a decent gaming headset. Even though gamers aren’t Earfun’s target market, their latest over-ears’ ability to pick out subtle sounds during gameplay is admirable. I was particularly impressed (and oh so flustered) by how effectively they conveyed the constant nearby Xenomorph screeches in the nerve-shredding Alien Isolation. The Resident Evil 4 remake’s undead-slaughtering gun battles also popped in an impactful way I wasn’t expecting from such cheap cans.

It’s best to go in with low expectations regarding the Wave Life’s noise cancelling, though. Even the most effective of its modes isn’t great at kiboshing ambient sounds, so if quality ANC is important to you, look elsewhere.

Sound quality score: 3.5 / 5

(Image credit: Future / Dave Meikleham)

Earfun Wave Life review: Value

Great value for money, given the features
Sound quality expectations met for the price
No carry case

Considering the amount of features and general build quality, there’s zero doubt the Earfun Wave Life represent fantastic value for money.

Overall sound quality also surpasses the expectations I’d generally go in with when it comes to reviewing such a cheap set of headphones. Unless you’re a real elitist audiophile, you’ll be pretty smitten with what your $60 / £50 / AU$105 (approx.) outlay serves up sound-wise.

While a carry case would have been appreciated, that’s a bit too much to ask for such affordable cans. Earfun deserves a lot of credit for selling its Wave Life over-ears at such an attractive price point.

(Image credit: Future / Dave Meikleham)

Should I buy the Earfun Wave Life?

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Section

Notes

Score

Features

Bluetooth 5.4; excellent 60-hour battery life; simultaneous device pairing

4 / 5

Design

Incredibly comfy; easy-to-reach on-cup controls; another color would be nice

4 / 5

Sound quality

Optional app essential to overcome limited EQ presets; a touch quiet; ANC could be far better

3.5 / 5

Value

Fantastic value for money; sound quality to be expected at the price point

4.5 / 5

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

Earfun Wave Life review: Also consider

Swipe to scroll horizontallyHeader Cell – Column 0

Earfun Wave Life

1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51

Sony WH-CH520

Drivers:

40mm composite

40mm dynamic

30mm

Active noise cancellation:

Yes

Battery life:

60 hours (37 hours ANC on)

100 hours (65 hours ANC on)

50 hours

Weight:

264g

246g

137g

Connectivity:

Bluetooth 5.4; USB-C

Bluetooth 5.2; 3.5mm

Bluetooth 5.2

Waterproofing:

N/A

How I tested Earfun Wave Life

Tested for nearly three weeks
Tested at home, on long walks and in ride shares

I tested the Earfun Wave Pro in a variety of conditions spanning songs, streaming content and video games over roughly a three-week period. This gave me the chance to get to know how versatile these over-ears can be.

Most of my time with these budget headphones was spent listening to music and podcasts on my iPhone 14 Pro. Away from revisiting my favourite tunes, I also used the Earfun Wave Life for Netflix and Disney Plus streaming, plus playing several games on my iPad Pro.

While most of my background centres around covering the best TVs and almost 20 years writing about video games, I’ve owned an absurd amount of headphones and earbuds in my life – from $500 Apple Airpods Max to budget buds from brands you’ve probably never heard of.

Currently, I have more sets of cans in my apartment than I do meals in my fridge. I should perhaps adjust my priorities in life, but hey, what can I say? I really love the best headphones.